Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
Football gets loads of taxpayers money. But I'm not comparing football to the royalty. Im comparing being a football fan to being a fan of the coronation as an event. Neither make sense. Both are about drama, symbolism, entertainment etc.

My point was that I often view a lot of the criticism as being pretty sneering. A more open debate about the benefits of republics v monarchy's would be useful but that isn't going to happen here in a thread with this title.

I do also think it's used as a bit of virtue signalling too really, because I don't think the royal family has an impact on people's lives at all. I appreciate that symbolically it does, and that does matter to an extent, but practically there are far more things to be done that are far more useful, in my opinion.

As for the cost to taxpayer's. Well, debating over what govts should spend money on is 50% of all political debate. The reality is money will be spent on things you don't like, and that goes for everyone. That's part and parcel of society.

I'd love to see the royal family open up more, their estates become more open etc, but I do think on balance they are a positive thing for the UK, and that is based to a large part because I see little of substance from those who oppose it in terms of what would replace it.

So I view anti-royalism all as a distraction really. Probably just like many view being pro-royal as a distraction too.

Maybe everyone should just have a beer and let everyone get on with it or not, depending on taste?
I have visions of the James Wales equivalent character saying the same about burning witches at the stake in the Middle Ages; or a James Wales priest making the same claim about child sacrifice hundreds of years prior to that. The French version would doubtless voice similar sentiments about the good natured pastime of watching miscreants being beheaded during the Reign of Terror.